The following summaries are of recent published decisions of the California appellate courts, the Ninth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. The summaries are presented without regard to whether Severson & Werson represented a party in the case.
On remand from the US Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit applies California's governmental interest approach to conflicts of law questions. It finds a true conflict between Spanish law which allows the possessor of stolen art to acquire stronger title to the art than its predecessor in interest had by reason of the passage of the prescriptive period and California law… Read More
In international diversity cases, enforceability of judgments of courts of other countries is generally governed by the law of the state in which enforcement is sought. Read More
California Health & Safety Code 25982 bans the sale in California of foie gras produced by force feeding geese. The law is not preempted by the federal Poultry Products Inspection Act. Even assuming that the USDA has exercised its authority under PPIA to require that foie gras be produced by fore feeding geese, California's statute does not conflict with federal… Read More
If a foreign sovereign entity is subject to suit under one of the exceptions to immunity otherwise conferred by the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, the Act does not affect the substantive law governing the entity's liability. Instead, 28 USC 1606 provides that when not entitled to immunity, "the foreign state shall be liable in the same manner and to the… Read More
